Archived: Training and Development Centre

Sandwell Council Training and Development Centre provided services known as, 'Short Term Assessment and Reablement service (STAR) and Fast Response. STAR and Fast Response provided services for people who lived at home in the community who may have experienced crisis or required personal care and support due to a physical, dementia or mental health need.

The aim was for people who used the service to improve or regain physical functioning or daily living skills after, for example, them having a stroke. The average length of time that care was provided was six weeks. After six weeks people were generally discharged from the service to live independently or referred for further assessment to determine how their longer term needs could be met. The number of people who received care and support varied on a daily basis due to people entering and being discharged from the service.

We found that people who used the service had a varying level of need. Some people only required one care call a day for minimal support or prompting, whilst other people required in excess of four care calls a day to provide comprehensive care and support packages.

During our inspection process we spoke with by telephone, or met and spoke with nineteen people who used the service or their relatives. We met, observed or conducted face to face discussions with 12 staff. We looked at 52 questionnaires that had been completed within the last four months (this included all questionnaires that had been recently completed) by people who used the service or their relatives, and carried out two visits to people's homes. We did this to give us an overview of the experiences that people had, to determine the standard of care provided, and the satisfaction of the people who used the service.

Overall the completed questionnaires we looked at highlighted positive comments in terms of the staff, the care and the overall service that had been provided. Only one person who used the service had scored an aspect of the service as poor. The majority of people and their relatives had rated all aspects of the service as good or excellent. One person had made the following comment, 'I cannot praise the STAR service enough. I have been very happy with it'. Another person commented, 'I can only congratulate you for the excellent and professional service you provide'. A relative commented, 'The service was first class'.

The majority of people who used the service and their relatives we spoke with by telephone were complimentary about the services provided by the STAR and Fast Response teams. One person said, 'If I had not got the help from STAR when I needed it I would not be here now. I am a lot better'. Another person told us, 'Everything about the service is very positive. I am happy with everything and have no complaints'. A relative said, 'I am very happy with the service. It has removed a lot of my worries'. Another relative told us, 'I cannot fault the service in any way it is brilliant'.

We found that staff treated people with respect and dignity. One person who used the service commented, 'The staff were all lovely and polite'. Another person told us, 'The staff are friendly, polite and respectful'.

We determined that the majority of people who used the service were more than happy with the way that their care had been planned and delivered. One person we spoke with said, 'I am happy with my care'. Another person told us, 'They never miss my call and are all very good'.

We found that adequate staff were provided to meet people's needs. The majority of people we spoke with were happy with the staff in terms of their conduct and behaviour. One person who used the service we spoke with said, 'I have to speak the truth. To me they are 'god's angels' who look after me'. A relative told us, 'All of the staff have been friendly and helpful. I cannot fault them at all'.

We identified that medication systems were not effective which placed people at risk of ill health through them not having their medication as it had been prescribed by their doctor.

We saw that some systems had been used to monitor how the service had been run and people had been encouraged to give their views about the service provided.